As 2018 came to a close, U.S. financial regulators continued to pursue anti-money laundering (“AML”) enforcement actions against financial institutions, announcing monetary penalties against and resolutions with three U.S. broker-dealers. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced on December 17, 2018 that they had issued parallel fines against UBS Financial Services Inc. (“UBSFS”) totaling $14.5 million for willful failures to comply with…

On December 19, 2018 the European Commission published the legislative proposals and delegated acts (the “Package”) which it had previously outlined in its Contingency Action Plan of November 13, 2018 to prepare for a “no-deal” scenario whereby the UK exits the EU on March 29, 2019 without a ratified withdrawal agreement in place.
The Package includes 14 measures in a number of areas where a no-deal scenario may create major disruption for citizens…

On December 3, 2018, a U.S. government working group aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the BSA/AML regime issued a second joint statement, which focuses on innovative industry approaches to BSA/AML compliance. This follows the working group’s first joint statement last month, which focused on BSA/AML resource sharing (as discussed in our prior blog post). The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the federal banking regulators (the Board of Governors…

The move away from a one-size-fits-all regulatory framework based on asset size continues.
On October 31, the Federal Reserve proposed a rule to implement Section 401 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, tailoring enhanced prudential standards for firms with $100 billion or more in total consolidated assets, and the three U.S. banking agencies proposed corresponding tailoring of their Basel III capital and liquidity rules.
Overall, the proposals would:
for U.S. GSIBs,…

On February 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission released updated interpretive guidance on cybersecurity disclosure, reaffirming staff guidance issued in 2011, providing more detailed guidance on disclosure of cybersecurity risks and incidents, advising companies to ensure that their disclosure controls and procedures take account of cybersecurity risks and noting the implications of cybersecurity incidents for insider trading prohibitions and Regulation FD compliance.
The interpretive guidance lends the Commission’s imprimatur to the previously issued staff guidance…